Holly Grove Elementary

Holly Grove Elementary is a PK-5 public school in Holly Springs, NC, serving 889 students as part of Wake County Schools. It is currently ranked #39 out of 1,492 North Carolina elementary schools, placing it in the 97th percentile with a 5-star rating. Remarkably, the school has stayed in roughly the top 2–4 percent of schools statewide across every reported year since 2015-16, which points to durable schoolwide systems rather than a single standout class.

Test scores fully support the ranking. Across all grades and subjects, Holly Grove's most recent EOG proficiency rates sit in a narrow band between 84% and 91%, averaging about 87%. That compares with roughly 70% for Wake County and 61% for North Carolina, meaning the school outperforms district averages by 13 to 20 percentage points on every test. Among nearby schools, only Oakview Elementary (#38) ranks slightly higher, while Holly Ridge Elementary (#74), Holly Springs Elementary (#95), and Buckhorn Creek Elementary (#99) all follow close behind. Attendance is another major advantage: Holly Grove's chronic absenteeism rate is just 9.8% — less than half the state rate of 24.2% — and it has fallen steadily from a post-COVID peak of 20.6%.

The school also posts strong results for historically underserved groups, with low-income students ranking in the top 10% statewide and Hispanic and Special Education students ranking in the top 5%. Notably, this is achieved without exceptional funding: per-student spending of $9,174 is below most nearby schools, including Lincoln Heights Elementary ($13,231) and Ballentine Elementary ($10,151). The one relative gap is at the high end of the ability spectrum: the school's Gifted and Talented subgroup ranks in the 61st percentile, suggesting room to further challenge its highest-performing learners.